Flames and Smoke
by ChaosRocket
Summary: Marik, Bakura and Ryou share a cigarette. Tornshipping. Thief to Tender for her. (I will sell my soul for something pure and true...someone like you...I'd sail ships for you...to be close to you...to be part of you...'cause I believe in you)


AN: Marik in this fic is the Hikari!

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Bakura passes the cigarette to Marik, who takes a drag and passes it on to Ryou.

There's no reason on Earth why the three should have to share the same cigarette; Bakura can easily steal enough cigarettes for all of them. But they share it anyways, in a kind of ritual that none of them can really explain the importance of.

Ryou takes a hit from the cigarette and passes it back to Bakura.

All teenage smokers who know each other share a sort of bond- a superficial friendship at the very least. This could be because of the fact that, for teenagers, cigarettes are hard to come by and easy to get in trouble for, so it's in their best interests to band together and help each other with those problems. It could be because of that, but it isn't.

Bakura takes a deep drag and passes the cigarette on to Marik.

Teenage smokers are almost invariably troubled. If they didn't have some kind of darkness in their pasts- abuse, loneliness, tragedy- they would not have started smoking at such a young age. This is a secret known to all teenage smokers, and known to few others, and this is what binds them together. They know what they share, and so understand each other on some level.

Marik passes the cigarette back to Ryou.

Of course, Bakura is not a teenager. But he looks like a teenager, and frankly, his emotional maturity is not beyond that of a teenager. One might think that pain and loss and trauma would cause a child to grow up quickly, but the opposite is true. Instead, they are lost and angry and afraid, never having learned how to be an adult and deal with the world.

Ryou sucks on the cigarette and then passes it to Bakura.

Bakura already smoked tobacco, anyways, back when he really was a teenager, an eternity ago. Now that Bakura finally has his own body again- slammed back into life after Zorc was destroyed and his soul was freed- he finds the feeling of smoking to be sweeter, better than it was back when he was sharing a body with Ryou.

Bakura takes his drag and hands the cigarette to Marik.

Teenagers who smoke aren't ignorant of the risks, and they're not doing it for the sake of rebellion, and they're not doing it because of the teenage delusion that they are immortal. They do it because they have a death wish.

Marik inhales the smoke and then gives the cigarette to Ryou.

None of the three have a death wish anymore. In each other, they've found a reason to live, and happiness. But of course, it's far too late to quit smoking now. A smoker who wants to have a cigarette will do almost anything to fulfill the desire. Because of this, adult smokers share a kind of bond as well, a general comfort with each other, since they know each others' need. Generally, nobody walks up to a stranger and asks to be given something for free. And if they did so, they would most likely be rebuffed. But any smoker will walk up to any other smoker and ask for a cigarette, and it's almost always given.

Ryou passes the cigarette back to Bakura.

Even if any of the three could stop smoking, maybe none of them would want to. In a strange, almost unconscious way, the cigarettes remind them of their respective dark pasts- and the fact that all of that is over. They're together now, where nothing can touch them.

Bakura finishes the cigarette and puts it out. He exhales the smoke and leans in to kiss Marik. Marik returns the kiss, cupping Bakura's face with his hands. Ryou crawls over and brushes one of his hands through Bakura's hair, the other hand through Marik's. Bakura turns to kiss Ryou, and then Marik does the same.

Somehow, through all the horror and darkness, they found each other, and found love. And finally, everything seemed right in the world for them.

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AN: In case you can't tell from the last line...hell yeah, they all lived happily ever after. Yeah that's pretty much going to be a theme. 


End file.
